Machine for operating upon the soles of shoes



Feb. 27, 1934. G. A. MINER ET AL 1,943,531

MACHINE FOR OPERATING UPON THE SOLES OF SHOES Filed May 25 1931 Patented Feb. 27, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFECE MACHINEFOR OPERATING UPON THE SOLES OF SHOES Application May 25, 1931. Serial No. 539,804

20 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for operating upon the soles of shoes and is herein illustrated as embodied in a rounding and channeling machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 600,883, granted March 22, 1898 upon application of W. C. Meyer and Z. T. French. The invention is not necessarily limited, however, to embodiment in machines of the particular type disclosed in the Letters Patent referred to.

The machine disclosed in the above-mentioned Letters Patent is provided with a fourmotion feed plate arranged to engage the face of the welt of a welt shoe; a yieldable work support arranged to engage the tread face of the sole of the shoe and to co-operate with the feed plate to clamp the sole margin intermittently and to feed it step-by-step; an oscillatory rounding knife which is movable toward the feed plate to trim the sole margin; and a channeling knife carried by the work support and arranged to move idly during the forward or feeding movements of the work support and the feed plate and to out upon the backward or non-feeding movements of those members.

The machine referred to is also provided with a so-called crease guide adapted to enter the crease between the sole and the upper and to support the sole margin against the thrust of the yieldable Work support during the periodic retracting movements of the feed plate, the crease guide having an operative extremity lo cated in front of and somewhat below the point of the feed plate for engagement with the shoe upper to assist in guiding the work particularly while operating along the shank portion of the shoe. Machines of the general type disclosed in the above-mentioned Letters Patent are commonly provided also with a so-called sticker point which is fixedly secured to the carrier for the rounding knife and is moved into engagement with the chip which is being trimmed from the sole for the purpose of holding the work against the thrust of the channel knife during the backward or cutting strokes of the latter. In Letters Patent No. 1,861,822 issued June 7, 1932, on a copending application, Serial No. 447,701, filed July 26, 1930, in the names of Sherman anad Bourgeois, a rounding and channeling machine of the above-described type is disclosed as being further provided with a Welt edge gage which is movable into position for engagement with the edge of the welt of a welt shoe to locate the trimming cut in the outsole, and an upper gage which is movable in an operative position between the feed plate and the upper of a McKay-sewed shoe or a turn shoe to guide the shoe by engagement with the upper. When in operative position the upper gage of the machine disclosed in the above-mentioned patent is located in front of the feed plate, while the operative position of the welt edge gage is behind the feed plate and in the path of the trimming knife which is movable through an aperture in the edge gage to trim the sole edge along a line spaced outwardly from the edge of the welt.

One object of the present invention is to improve the construction and mode of operation of rounding and channeling machines including, for example, rounding and channeling machines of the type disclosed in Letters Patent No. 1,861,822, above referred to, to adapt the machines to operate with greater efficiency and reliability both on welt shoes and on McKaysewed shoes, turn shoes or other shoes in which the outsole is directly secured to the upper, as Well as to facilitate wider variation in the character of the operations performed.

With this object in view, one feature of the present invention consists in the combination, in a rounding and channeling machine, of rounding and channeling means, Work feeding means, and a support for the projecting margin of the bottom of a shoe, said support being arranged to engage the shoe bottom margin at the side adjacent to the upper, and only in a location in advance of that engaged by the work feeding means. The machine herein shown is a machine of the type disclosed in Letters Patent No. 600,- 883, hereinbefore referred to, and the illustrated support for the shoe bottom margin consists of a presser foot which is employed in lieu of the so-called crease guide of that machine and which is adjusted so as to avoid projecting inwardly across the sole margin to a greater exfoot is located entirely at one side of the feed plate, the upper gage is permitted to be moved into such intimate relation to the outer surface of the feed plate that it is adapted to engage the upper along an area closely adjacent to the sole and thus more effectively to function in guiding the work.

In accordance with another feature of the invention a machine of the class described is pro vided with yielding means, herein shown as a sticker point, for penetrating the chip or material which is being trimmed from the sole by the rounding means to hold the sole during the cutting strokes of the channeling means. The yielding mounting of the sticker point, or equivalent work holding means, adapts it to perform its function of holding the work against the thrust of the channel knife with uniform efficiency regardless of variations in the thickness of the shoe bottom which is being operated upon and makes it practicable for a rounding and channeling machine to operate, without special adjustment of the sticker point, upon welt shoes, McKay-sewed shoes, turn shoes, or other shoes in which the tread sole is directly secured to the upper. In operation, the yielding sticker point herein shown and described is adapted to penetrate the sole margin only a sufficient distance firmly to hold the work irrespective of the thickness of the sole margin and thus to insure against possibility of weakening the leather to such an extent as to impair the holding power of the sticker point.

Further to increase the efficient operation of the sticker point the work-engaging extremity of that member, in the illustrated construction, is notched or otherwise constructed to provide spaced points for holding engagement with the work and thus to avoid making a continuous cut of such a nature as unduly to weaken the adjacent portions of the work so as to lessen the holding power of the sticker point. As shown, the spaced work-engaging portions of the sticker point are adapted to penetrate the sole material at points spaced apart in a direction widthwise of the sole margin.

In accordance with another feature of the invention the illustrated machine is provided with an improved edge gage for use in guiding welt shoes by engagement with the edge of the welt.

The invention further consists in features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a view, in front elevation, of so much of a rounding and channeling machine as is necessary to illustrate the application of the present invention thereto, the machine being shown in operation upon the sole of a welt shoe;

Fig. 2 is a view, partially in side elevation and partially in section, of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1, this view also showing the machine in operation on a welt shoe;

Fig. 3 is a view, in front elevation, of the Welt edge gage shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a View, in front elevation, of a modified form of Welt edge gage illustrating the relation between the gage and certain of the operating instrumentalities of the machine;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the machine in operation upon a McKay-sewed shoe;

Figs. 6 and 7 are detailed sectional views showing the construction and mounting of the yielding work retaining finger or sticker point, ig. 6 being taken along the line VI VI of Fig. 2, and Fig. 7 being taken along the line vii-VII of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a portion of the work-retaining finger or sticker poin Fig. 9 is a detailed sectional view taken along the line IX-IX of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 10 is a front elevational view of the fixed sole margin support or presser foot.

In the drawing, the invention is shown as embodied in a rounding and channeling machine of the general type disclosed in Letters Patent No. 600,883 hereinbefore referred to. The illustrated machine is provided with a fourmotion feed plate 10 arranged to engage the upper surface of the Welt, when the machine is operating upon a welt shoe, or the corresponding portion of the projecting sole margin of a shoe in which no welt is employed (such, for example, as a McKay-sewed shoe or a turn shoe) a sole support 12 comprising an anti-friction roll which is adapted yieldingly to engage the tread face of the sole and is movable back and forth in the line of work feed to cooperate with the feed plate 10 in feeding the work; a trimming or rounding knife 14 which is secured to an oscillatory knife carrier 16 and is movable toward the feed plate to trim the tread sole of the shoe; and a channeling knife 18 which is movable back and forth with the sole support 12. The above-described parts are substantially the same in construction and have substantially the same mode of operation as corresponding parts disclosed in said patent, and accordingly no detailed description of these parts will be given herein.

In addition to the above-described parts, the

illustrated machine is provided with an edge gage 20 which is movable into position to adapt the machine for operation upon welt shoes, an upper gage 22 which is movable into position to adapt the machine for operation upon McKaysewed shoes or other shoes in which no welt or equivalent shoe bottom element is employed, a fixed presser foot or sole margin support 24 which is located in advance of the feed plate, and a yielding work-retaining finger or sticker point 26 which is mounted beside the trimming knife 14.

The edge gage 20 is located at the rear of the feed plate 10 while the upper gage 22 is located in front of the feed plate and the gages 20 and 22 are secured respectively to the rear and front portions of a rocker stud 30 which is mounted to turn in a suitable bearing formed in the upper portion of the feed plate 10. The edge gage 20 consists of a plate which extends at right angles to the axis of the stud 30. The upper gage 22 comprises an anti-friction roll which is mounted to turn idly at the outer end of an arm 36 which is rigidly secured to and extends radially from the front end of the rocker stud 30. The edge gage 20 extends at an angle of substantially 90 with respect to the upper gage arm 36 so that when the edge gage 20 is operatively positioned the upper gage 22 will necessarily occupy an inoperative outof-the-way position and vice versa.

For the purpose of locking the rocker stud 30 in two positions, in one of which the edge gage 20 is operatively positioned and in the other of which the upper gage 22 is operatively positioned, a lock bar 40, pivotally mounted at 42, is yieldingly held in looking position by means of a spring 44 which bears against the upper end of the lock bar. The lock bar is arranged to engage with one or the other of two notches 46 and 48 formed in the periphery of a disk 5 50 which is fast on the rocker stud 30. By depressing the enlarged upper end 52 of the lock bar 40 the latter may be released from locking engagement with the disk 50 to permit readjustment of the gages 20 and 22.

So far as above described, the construction of the edge gage and the upper gage is the same as that disclosed in Letters Patent No. 1,861,822, hereinbefore referred to. In order, however, to adapt the present machine for a wider variation ofwork and, if desired, to adapt it to trim the margin of a sole flush or substantially flush with the edge of the welt, the illustrated edge gage 20 is deeply notched, as indicated at 53 in Fig. 3, to receive the rounding knife and to provide two spaced welt-edge-engaging fingers 54 arranged one at either side of the path of the rounding knife. At its inner end the welt edge gage 20 is forked, as indicated at 55, to straddle the shank of a screw 56 (Figs. 2 and 5) by means of which the gage plate is rigidly secured to the rear end of the rocker stud 30. By loosening the screw 56 the edge gage plate may be adjusted lengthwise relatively to the rocker stud 30 so as to vary the relation between the welt-edge-engaging fingers 54 and the path of the trimming knife and thus to vary the location of the trimming cut in the sole relatively to the edge of the welt. If desired, the welt edge gage may be so adjusted that the sole will be trimmed flush with the edge of the welt.

In the modified form of edge gage shown in Fig. 4 the gage arm 200 is offset, as shown, so that the gage will contact with the edge of the welt only at one side of the path of the rounding knife 14. As shown, the gage 200 is offset in a direction to engage the work in advance of the field of operation of the feed plate and the rounding and channeling knives. The gage 200 is notched at 57 to receive, and thus to avoid interference with, the sticker point 26 when there is no work present in the machine. The provision of the notch 57 also relieves the edge gage plate of strain due to the thrust of the sticker point against the work.

The illustrated upper gage arm 36 is bent, as indicated at 38, to enable the roll 22 to be located closely adjacent to the feed clamp 10. Inasmuch as no portion of the pressure foot 24 extends across the front face of the feed plate, the' gage arm 36 is shown as being bent to such an extent as to position the gage roll 22 in such proximity to the feed plate that it will engage the upper along an area very close to the sole margin and thus the gage roll will be better adapted to perform its function of guiding the shoe.

As best shown in Fig. 10, the illustrated sole margin support or presser foot 24 depends from one end of a block 58 which is provided with two slots 59 for the reception of screws 60 by means of which the presser foot is fixedly but adjustably secured to a bracket 61 which, in turn, is fixedly secured to the frame of the machine. As shown,l the slots 59 are vertically elongated to permit adjustment of the presser foot widthwise of the sole margin to facilitate effective guiding of the work. The presser'foot 24 is located at the right-hand side of the feed plate 10 so that it will engage the work only in advance of the feed plate and the lower extremity of the presser foot 24 is curved toward the work clamp so that it will engage the work as close to the latter as practicable. The fortrimming knife 14.

ward edge of the presser foot is rounded, as shown at 62, to facilitate the feeding and swinging of the work.

In the operation of the machine the presser foot or. sole margin support 24 functions to support the projecting sole margin at the side adjacent to the shoe upper and to hold the sole margin in place against the work supporting roll 12; during those intervals when the feed plate is retracted from work engaging and feed ing position and thus to maintain the sole margin during the intervals between the feed movements of the work as during the intervals when the work is being fed. Inasmuch as the presser foot may be adjusted to project no further than the feed plate into the crease between the sole and the upper, the feed plate is enabled to engage the sole throughout the entire width of its projecting margin and thus to cooperate with the supporting roll 12 to clamp the work more firmly, thereby insuring more effective feeding of the work. Another factor facilitating the effective operation of the feed plate is the loca tion of the presser foot at one side of the feed plate with no portion overlying the latter so as to interfere withthe projection of the feed plate as far as desired into the welt crease. The above-described construction and arrangement of the presser foot also facilitates close rounding of a sole and renders it practicable to round a sole as closely at the toe as along the shank, a result which is often desirable but which has been difficult to! secure heretofore because of the presence of the so-called crease guide, as well as the feed plate between the sole margin and the upper. Moreover, the location of the presser foot at a point in advance of the feed plate (having regard to the direction of work feed) enables the upper gage 22 to be swung downwardly into an operative position in which it is located in, close proximity to the outer face of the feed plate. Thus the upper gage is enabled to engage the shoe upper along an area desirably close to the sole margin. In fact, as shown, the upper gage is thus enabled to extend well into the crease between the upper and the sole in which positionit is most effective to guide the work.

The sticker point 26 is formed at one end of an elongated segmental block '70 which is mounted upon the knife carrier 16 in front of the As best shown in Fig. 6 the shank of the trimming knife 14 is rigidly clamped to the knife carrier 16 between beveled faces '72 and 74 formed respectively upon the carrier 16 and upon a clamp plate 76 which is secured to the carrier by means of a bolt 78, the bolt 78 being formed with a shoulder 80 arranged to engage the clamp plate 76. The bolt 78 serves also to retain the sticker point block 70 upon the knife carrier 16 and to limit the extent of yielding movement of the block on the knife carrier. As shown in Fig. 9, the sticker point block '70 is channelor U-shaped in crosssection and is arranged to slide upon a segmental rib 82 on the clamp plate '76 and the bolt '78 extends through a longitudinal slot 86 in the block 70, the block being confined betweem the clamp plate 76 and a collar 88 on the bolt '78. A spring 90, confined between the sides of the channel-shaped block '70, normally holds the sticker point in advanced position and permits it to yield rearwardly; as required to accommodate itself to soles of varying thicknesses.

Fig. 5 illustrates the operation of a rounding and channeling machine fitted with the abovedescribed yielding sticker point upon a McKaysewed shoe. As shown in this figure, the shoe is guided by means of the gage roller 22 which is arranged to engage the upper of the shoe, and the shoe is held against the thrust of the channel knife by means of the sticker point which for this purpose has been projected only part way through the chip A that is being trimmed from the sole B by the rounding knife. The sticker point has penetrated the material of the sole B far enough to engage the latter firmly so as to hold it securely against the thrust of the channeling knife but not far enough to out entirely through the chip or so nearly through the chip as to weaken the holding power of the sticker point.

In Fig. 2 the machine is shown in operation upon the outsole of a welt shoe, the shoe being guided in this instance by the welt edge gage 20 which has been moved into position to engage the edge of the welt C of the shoe D. The sticker point in this case is shown as having yielded to accommodate the combined thickness of the outsole B and welt C (which is substantially greater than the thickness of the sole F of the McKaysewed shoe shown in Fig. 5). Thus the sticker point has penetrated no further into the chip A, which is being cut from the thick outsole B than it is shown in Fig. having penetrated the chip which is being cut from the relatively thin sole F. The sticker point has penetrated far enough, however, effectively to perform its function of holding the sole against the thrust of the channel knife. It evident that if the sticker point were fixed in the position relatively to the: trimming knife in which it is shown in Fig. 5, thereby adapting it for operation upon a McKaysewed shoe, the sticker point, unless readjusted relatively to the trimming knife to adapt it for operation upon a welt shoe, would necessarily be projected entirely through the chip which is being out from the welt outsole. Such action would weaken the chip to such an extent as materially to lessen the holding power of the sticker point. By making the sticker point yielding relatively to the trimming knife, as herein shown, however, danger of thus weakening the chip and undesirably lessening the holding power of thesticker point is avoided As best shown at 92 in Fig 8, the work engaging portion of the sticker point is notched to provide two work engaging teeth or points 94 and 96 which are spaced apart vertically and thus are separated in a direction widthwise of the chip. Such a construction still further avoids unnecessary weakening of the chip as a result of the penetration of the chip by the sticker point and accordingly enables the sticker point to have increased capacity for holding the work against the thrust of the channeling knife Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a rounding and channeling machine, in combination, rounding and channeling means, work feeding means including a feed plate constructed and arranged to engage the projecting margin of the bottom of a shoe at the side adjacent to the upper, an upper gage located between the feed plate and the upper of the shoe, and a presser foot for engaging the shoe bottom margin at the side adjacent to the upper, and only in a location in advance of said feed plate.

2. In a rounding and channeling machine, in combination, rounding and channeling means, work feeding means, and a support for the projecting margin of the bottom of a shoe, said support being arranged to engage the shoe bottom margin at the side adjacent to the shoe upper and only in a location in advance of the portion engaged by the work feeding means.

3. In a rounding and channeling machine, in combination, a work support for engaging the tread face of the sole of a shoe, a, reciprocatory rounding knife, a channeling knife, a four-motion feed plate located in the path of movement of the rounding knife and arranged to engage the surface of the projecting margin of the shoe bottom at the side adjacent to the upper, and a stationary presser foot constructed and arranged to engage the projecting shoe bottom margin at the side adjacent'to the upper, said presser foot being located entirely in advance of the feed plate.

4. In a rounding and channeling machine, in combination, a reciprocable rounding knife, a channeling knife, work supporting and feeding means including a feed plate arranged to engage the surface of the projecting margin of the sole of a shoe at the side adjacent to the shoe upper and in the path of the rounding knife, a gage movable to and from a position between the feed plate andthe shoe upper for guiding the shoe by engagement with the upper along an area close to the margin of the sole, and a presser foot-located entirely in advance of the feed plate and the gage for supporting the margin ofthe-sole to gage the depth of the-channel.

5. In a rounding and channeling machine, means for imparting step-by-step feed movement to the sole of a shoe, rounding means for trimming the sole, channeling means operable to channel the sole margin during the intervals between the step movements of the sole, and yielding means constructed and arranged to penetrate the material trimmed from the sole by said rounding means to hold the sole stationary during the operation of the channeling means.

6. In a rounding-and channeling machine, in combination, a rounding knife, forwardly and baokwardly movable work feeding means, a channel knife movable with said work feeding means and arranged to cut on its backward stroke, and a yieldable work-penetrating memher for positively holding the work during the cutting stroke of the channel knife.

7. In a rounding and chann ling machine, in combination, a reciprocable rounding knife for trimming the-sole of a shoe, forwardly and backwardly movable work feeding means, a channeling knife movable with the work feeding means and arranged to cut on its backward stroke, and a yielding work retaining sticker point adapted to enter the material which is being trimmed from the sole and movable with the rounding knife to and from. operative position to hold the work during the cutting stroke of the channel knife.

8. In a rounding and channeling machine, in combination, a reciprocating rounding knife, intermittently operative feed means for advancing the margin of the sole of a shoe past the rounding knife, a channeling knife constructed and arranged to out a sole margin during the intervals between the step movements of the work, and a yielding sticker point movable with the rounding knife for engaging the chip cut by the rounding knife to hold the work against the thrust of the channel knife.

9. In a rounding and channeling machine, means for intermittently advancing the marginal portion of the sole of a shoe, a channeling knife movable to cut the sole margin during the intervals between the advance of the work, an oscillatory knife carrier, a rounding knife secured to said carrier for trimming the sole margin, and a sticker point yieldingly mounted on said carrier beside the trimming knife for holding the work against the thrust of the channel knife.

10. For use in a rounding and channeling machine, a sticker point having a work-engaging portion comprising spaced points adapted to penetrate the sole material and arranged to avoid the making of a single continuous cut of substantial length therein.

11. For use in a rounding and channeling machine, a sticker point having work penetrating members constructed and arranged to embed themselves in the chip cut from the sole at points spaced apart in a direction widthwise of the chip to avoid severing or unduly weakening the chip and thereby lessening the holding power of the sticker point.

12. In a rounding and channeling machine, in combination, a rounding knife, forwardly and backwardly movable work feeding means, a channeling knife movable with the work feeding means and arranged to cut on its backward stroke, means for holding the work comprising a member constructed and arranged to engage the face of the chip cut by the rounding knife at points spaced apart widthwise of the sole margin to hold the work during the cutting stroke of the channel knife.

13. In a rounding and channeling machine, means for intermittently advancing the marginal portion of the sole of a shoe, a channeling knife movable to cut the sole margin during the intervals between the advance ofthe work, an oscillatory knife carrier, a rounding knife secured to said carrier for trimming the sole margin, and a sticker point yieldingly mounted on said carrier beside the trimming knife for holding the work against the thrust of the channel knife, said sticker point being guided for yielding movement in a path concentric with the axis of oscillation of the knife carrier.

14. In a rounding and channeling machine, means for imparting step-by-step feed movement to the sole of a shoe, a channeling knife movable to cut the sole margin during intervals between said step movements, an oscillatory knife carrier, a sole rounding knife fixed to said carrier, a yielding sticker point located beside the rounding knife, a clamp plate for securing the rounding knife to the knife carrier, and a bolt for supporting the clamp plate and the sticker point.

15. In a rounding machine, in combination, a reciprocable rounding knife, Work supporting and feeding means including a feed plate located in the path of the rounding knife and arranged to project into the welt crease of a shoe, and a Welt edge gage capable of adjustment to position the edge of the welt in line with the rounding knife so that the latter will trim the sole flush with the edge of the welt.

16. In a rounding machine, in combination, a reciprocable rounding knife, work supporting and feeding means including a feed plate located in the path of the rounding knife and arranged to project into the welt crease of a shoe, and a welt edge gage constructed and arranged to engage the edge of the welt of a shoe only at points spaced from the rounding knife in directions extending lengthwise of the cutting edge of the knife.

17. In a rounding machine, in combination, a reciprocable rounding knife, work supporting and feeding means including a feed plate located in the path of the rounding knife and arranged to project into the welt crease of a shoe, and a welt edge gage comprising spaced fingers constructed and arranged to engage the edge of the welt of a shoe only at opposite sides of the path of the rounding knife.

18. In a rounding machine, in combination, a reciprocable rounding knife, work supporting and feeding means including a feed plate located in the path of the rounding knife and arranged to project into the Welt crease of a shoe, and a welt edge gage constructed and arranged to engage the edge of the Welt of a shoe only at points located in advance of the path of the rounding knife.

19. In a rounding machine, in combination, a reciprocable rounding knife, a sticker point movable with the rounding knife, work supporting and feeding means including a feed plate located in the path of the rounding knife and arranged to project into the welt crease of a shoe, and a welt edge gage constructed and arranged to engage the edge of the welt of a shoe only in a location in advance of the path of the rounding knife, said gage comprising a plate having a notch therein adapted to receive the sticker point.

20. In a rounding and channeling machine, a reciprocating rounding knife, a channeling knife, means for advancing the margin of the sole of a shoe past the rounding and channeling knives, a sticker point for engaging the chip cut by the rounding knife to hold the Work against the thrust of the channel knife, and a welt edge gage having a notch formed therein adapted to receive the sticker point.

GEORGE A. MINER. AXEL ARNOLD LAWSON. 

